Liverpool’s mentality will be what wins them the league

Liverpool looked dead and buried after trailing 1-0 to Aston Villa yesterday afternoon, with a late comeback from Manchester City against Southampton hinting that Liverpool’s 6 point advantage over City would be cut 3 ahead of the clash between the 2 clubs. But late goals from Andy Robertson and Sadio Mane rescued a vital win for Jurgen Klopp’s men to maintain their 6 point advantage at the top of the league. With City already drawing the same amount of games as they did for the entirety of last season and Liverpool enjoying an unbeaten start to the season, it looks like this season could be the one to see Liverpool win their first Premier League title. If Liverpool maintain their good form throughout the season and finish as champions we think it will be thanks to the strong mentality of Jurgen Klopp and the squad where they fight to the last minute of every game and give everything they have. We’ve looked at some of the games where they displayed this mentality and dug deep to get vital points.

This will be a controversial opinion considering the manner that Liverpool won the game, but nevertheless, it should be mentioned. After Sadio Mane’s opener, Liverpool looked set to their opening 8 Premier League games, but an 80th-minute equaliser from James Maddison looked set to give Brendan’s Rodgers’ side a point from the match. Liverpool didn’t lose their head after the equaliser and kept looking for a winning goal, and after Sadio Mane was brought down in the box by Marc Albrighton during injury time, it looked like Liverpool's winning streak would continue. The replay showed that Albrighton did make contact with Mane, but very light contact which didn’t justify Mane going to ground as quickly he did, so in the eyes of many people, the decision to award a penalty should have been changed and Liverpool shouldn't have scored the goal and won the game.

Going into Liverpool’s visit to Old Trafford to face Manchester United, it looked inevitable that Liverpool would leave Manchester with 3 points as United had only won 2 of their opening 8 Premier League games and Liverpool had won their last 17 Premier League games. Marcus Rashford gave United an unexpected and controversial lead as some people believe that Origi was fouled moments before the goal was scored. A disallowed goal from Sadio Mane gave the impression that it wouldn't be Liverpool’s day but despite a strong defensive display from United, Liverpool kept applying the pressure and scored an 85th minute equaliser thanks to Adam Lallana, and could’ve snatched a late win as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s long range shot went just wide of the post. Obviously, you can say Liverpool dropped 2 points but considering United’s defensive formation and the controversial VAR decision, Liverpool’s mentality to keep going and fight until the end was enough to rescue a point, and considering how close the title race was last season, that 1 point could be enough to win them the title.

Similar to the other games on this list, it looks almost certain that Liverpool would pick up 3 points from their trip to Villa Park, but thanks to a first half goal from Mahmoud Hassan along with a controversial disallowed goal, Liverpool looked set to drop points. With Manchester City coming from behind to lead against Southampton, Liverpool looked set to lose their 6 point lead at the top of the table. A late goal from Andy Robertson looked to rescue at least a point for Liverpool until Sadio Mane’s 94th minute header gave Liverpool a last minute victory over Villa to maintain their 6 point lead at the top. The vast majority of people thought the game was done and Liverpool had no hope of coming back, so for the players and the manager to not lose that hope and play to the last minute highlights the strong mentality of the squad to keep fighting, and if they maintain that mentality throughout the season, it is a strong possibility that they will finish the season as champions.